Muffle oven particularly for cooking food products

ABSTRACT

A muffle oven, particularly for cooking food products, comprising:
         a frame for supporting the muffle,   an oven door that is hinged to the supporting frame,   an abutment for the door, which is jointly connected to the supporting frame,   an element for supporting the lock that retains the door in the closed configuration.       

     The supporting element is adjacent to the abutment and associated with the supporting frame at rigid regions thereof. The supporting element supports the lock in a substantially fixed position, in a stable manner as the temperature of the oven varies, with respect to the corresponding location that the latch, associated with the door ( 14 ), occupies when the door ( 14 ) is closed onto the abutment.

The present invention relates to a muffle oven particularly for cooking food products.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various types of muffle oven are currently known which have a frame which, in addition to acting as a support for muffle, constitutes the body itself of the oven.

The door of the oven is hinged to the frame, which has an abutment for such door that is generally provided by its portion that forms the mouth of the oven.

During heating, the walls of these types of oven tend to deform, assuming an inward camber; the muffle, by warming, in fact has a differential expansion between its two faces, the inner one and the outer one, such as to cause it to form an arc toward the inside of the oven.

Since the frame is jointly connected to the muffle, in order to support it, its walls are cambered inward, following the deformation of the muffle, when the oven is hot.

As is known, the greatest deformation occurs at the central region of wall, and the larger the wall, the greater the deformation.

Particularly tall ovens, therefore, have the drawback that the side walls, by being deformed due to such effects, tends to draw with them the lock for locking the oven door, which is generally arranged on the abutment, at the central portion of the wall that supports it.

Accordingly, the stress that the wall, by deforming, applies to the lock for locking the oven door is such as to prevent its opening when the oven is hot.

One currently known solution for obviating this drawback is fixing the lock to an outer box-like structure, which surrounds the frame of the oven.

However, this solution requires a new structural component for this type of oven, i.e., the outer box-like structure, to the full disadvantage of economy and structural simplicity of the oven.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to provide a muffle oven that obviates the above-mentioned drawback, allowing easy opening of the oven even when it is hot.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a muffle oven that is simple and easy to assemble.

Another object of the invention is to provide a muffle oven that can be manufactured with known means and at relatively low costs.

This aim and these and other objects, which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a muffle oven, particularly for cooking food products, comprising:

-   -   a muffle supporting frame,     -   an oven door that is hinged to said supporting frame,     -   an abutment for said door, which is jointly connected to said         frame,

characterized in that it comprises an element for supporting the lock for retaining said door in the closed configuration, which is associated with said frame at rigid regions of said frame and is adjacent to said abutment, said door having means for engaging said lock, said locking element supporting said lock in a substantially fixed position, in a stable manner as the temperature of the oven varies, with respect to the corresponding location of said engagement means when said door is closed onto said abutment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the muffle oven according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of a muffle oven according to the invention, without the door;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged-scale exploded perspective view of a detail of the muffle oven according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional top view of the muffle oven according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged-scale sectional view of another detail of the muffle oven according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

It is noted that anything found to be already known during the patenting process is understood not to be claimed and to be the subject of a disclaimer.

With reference to the figures, the reference numeral 10 generally designates a muffle oven particularly for cooking food products, which comprises:

-   -   a frame 11 for supporting the muffle 12,     -   a door 14 of the oven 10, which is hinged to the supporting         frame 11,     -   an abutment 15 for the door 14, which is jointly connected to         the supporting frame 11.

One particularity of the muffle oven 10 according to the invention is that it comprises an element 16 for supporting a lock 17 for retaining the door 14 in the closed configuration, which is associated, adjacent to the abutment 15, with the supporting frame 11 at rigid regions 13 of the supporting frame 11.

The door 14 is provided with means for engaging the lock 17, conveniently a latch.

The supporting element 16 supports the lock 17 in a substantially fixed position, in a stable manner as the temperature of the oven varies, with respect to the corresponding location of the engagement means, in which such means are when the door 14 is closed onto the abutment 15.

Preferably, the supporting element 16 comprises an elongated box-like element 18, which is associated, at its opposite ends 18 a and 18 b, with the abutment 15 at the rigid regions 13.

Conveniently, the supporting frame 11 has a substantially parallelepipedal structure with a vertical main extension; the door 14 is hinged to the frame 11 adjacent to the edge of a first side wall 19 and of a mouth of the oven 10.

The rigid regions 13 comprise two edges 20 and 21 of the supporting frame 11.

A first edge 20 connects a second side wall 22 of the supporting frame 11 that lies opposite the first side wall 19 and a bottom wall 23 of the supporting frame 11.

The second edge 21 connects the second side wall 22 to an upper wall 24 of the supporting frame 11 that lies opposite the bottom wall 23.

Advantageously, the elongated box-like element 18 has a substantially C-shaped cross-section, and has, at its opposite ends 18 a and 18 b, brackets 25 for fixing to the abutment 15.

The lock 17 is conveniently provided in a substantially central position on the elongated box-like element 18, the abutment 15 having a seat, conveniently a cutout 26, at the lock 17 for the engagement of the lock 17 with such latch.

More particularly, the elongated box-like element 18 is fixed to the abutment 15 by means of

-   -   internally threaded bushes 27 jointly associated with the fixing         brackets 25 and     -   screws 28, which are inserted in holes 29 provided on the         abutment 15 and screwed into the bushes 27 in order to fix the         elongated box-like element 18 to the abutment 15.

When the oven 10 is heated, due to the differential expansion between the two faces of the muffle 12, the first side wall 19 and the second side wall 22 flex, cambering toward the inside of the oven 10.

Drawn by the first side wall 19, the abutment 15 flexes toward the inside of the oven 10.

The elongated box-like element 18, instead, being fixed to the frame 11 only at its ends 18 a and 18 b, is not deformed, since the ends 18 a and 18 b are fixed at the edges 20 and 21, which due to their structural rigidity are substantially not deformed.

In this manner, the thermal deformations caused by the heating of the oven 10 do not cause tensions between the lock 17 and the latch of the door 14, which thus can be opened easily even when the oven is hot.

In practice it has been found that the invention achieves the proposed aim and objects, by providing a muffle oven that is simple and easy to assemble and allows to open the oven easily even when it is hot.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; all the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. PD2007A000420 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference. 

1. A muffle oven, particularly for cooking food products, comprising: a frame for supporting the muffle, an oven door that is hinged to said supporting frame, an abutment for said door, which is jointly connected to said supporting frame, further comprising an element for supporting a lock for retaining said door in the closed configuration, which is associated with said supporting frame at rigid regions of said supporting frame and is adjacent to said abutment, said door having means for engaging said lock, said locking element supporting said lock in a substantially fixed position, in a stable manner as the temperature of the oven varies, with respect to the corresponding location of said engagement means when said door is closed onto said abutment.
 2. The muffle oven according to claim 1, wherein said supporting element comprises an elongated box-like element, which is associated, at its opposite ends, with said abutment at said rigid regions.
 3. The muffle oven according to claim 1, wherein said supporting frame has a substantially parallelepipedal structure with a vertical main extension, said door being hinged to said frame, adjacent to the edge, at a first side wall of said supporting frame, which is adjacent to the mouth of said oven, said rigid regions comprising two edges of said supporting frame, a first one of said two edges connecting a second side wall of said supporting frame that lies opposite said first side wall, and a bottom wall of said supporting frame, a second one of said two edges connecting said second side wall to an upper wall of said supporting frame that lies opposite said bottom wall.
 4. The muffle oven according to claim 2, wherein said elongated box-like element has a substantially C-shaped cross-section and has, at said opposite ends, brackets for fixing to said abutment.
 5. The muffle oven according to claim 2, wherein said lock is provided in a substantially central position with respect to said elongated box-like element, said abutment having a seat at said lock, for the engagement of said lock with said engagement means.
 6. The muffle oven according to claim 2, wherein said elongated box-like element is fixed to said abutment by means of: bushes, which are threaded internally and are jointly associated with said fixing brackets, and screws, which are inserted in holes provided in said abutment and are screwed into said bushes in order to fix said elongated box-like element to said abutment. 